Have you heard the expressions, a particular car oversteers or another understeers? Do you know exactly what each term means? If you could choose, which would be safer to drive?

Let’s see what both expressions really mean. Imagine you are in your car in a big empty parking lot, with nothing to hit, no poles or other cars.

Now start driving and turn the steering wheel to the right or left to drive in circles. No problem, drive slowly in this big circle and everything is under control.

Now imagine that you are going a little faster and faster around the circle. Soon you will start to hear some tire noise. As speed increases, the sound becomes louder and the tires begin to screech. Soon they are shrieking and you know something is about to happen.

If it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the front end turned towards your circle. That is, if the circle gets bigger as you accelerate, then your car is understeering.

If, on the other hand, the rear of your car appears to be sliding and looks like it’s going to go sideways or backwards in a second, then your car is oversteering.

Oversteer cars lose tire grip at the front of the car and understeer cars lose tire grip at the rear of the car first.

So which one is safer? Almost all automakers design cars to understeer. This means that when you’re driving too fast into a corner, and the front end is harder to turn, you almost instinctively release the gas pedal. The car brakes and regains grip and you take the corner a little more slowly and safely.

This is fine for a typical car and average driver. But if you’re in a race car, or a car designed to run on a race track, you want a car that oversteers, because you let the rear end slide a little bit. This points you more into the turn and you can go faster. However, you must have the driving skills to overcome the slide while taking the curve. Or you’ll lose control, which isn’t such a bad thing on a race track, but can get you killed on city streets.